Fairfield Energy is today expected to admit that it has been forced to pull
its £330m listing on the London Stock Exchange, after failing to drum up
enough interest from investors.

Sources close to the company said last night that the board would most likely delay the listing after a difficult last day of book-building. "People liked the Fairfield story – but just not now seemed to be the message," a source said.

Private-equity owned Fairfield was set to become the largest North Sea-focused UK independent exploration and production company by market value.

It planned to sell 150.4m new shares at 220p to 420p each, raising a minimum £330m and valuing the entire company at upwards of £720m. Fairfield is owned by a consortium of investors led by Warburg Pincus and its main corporate adviser has been Rupert Newall of Hawkpoint. Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse were joint global coordinators.

It has been a difficult climate for initial public offerings (IPOs) in recent months, with Essar Energy's £1.3bn listing in late April only just taking off.

The Indian oil and gas company slashed the price at the last minute and then had the worst IPO debut for eight years with its share price tumbling 7pc on opening.

The next major company to attempt a listing will be grocery business Ocado, with the management currently seeking the support of US investors. Some big funds, including Schroders, have already expressed scepticism about the group's £800m to £1.3bn valuation.

An Ocado spokesman said: "We can categorically confirm that the Ocado IPO is proceeding according to plan.

"The Ocado team have had a great reception in the US and are continuing with a busy roadshow schedule during which the management team are meeting a very large number of potential investors and the audience is very engaged."